creative brief breakfast

Writing creative briefs

28th October 2009

Role

Proposition

Writing

Briefing

• Define the task at hand

• Act as a platform for great ideas

• Inspire everyone on the project

• Inform people of the key points for communication

What they should do

• Copy and paste the Client brief

• Rushed and last minute

• Dull

What they shouldn’t

What is the problem we are trying to solve?

Where to start?

Define the comms/biz objective before writing the brief

Role

Proposition

Writing

Briefing

The hardest part of the brief

Insights required

• Inspire original thinking

• Ensure distinctiveness within the market

• Achieve channel cut-through

How to get there…

Consumer Market

Competition

Product/Company

Technology

Research

Assess

Establish insights

Proposition

Consumer

Who are they?

What’s their current relationship with the brand/product?

What are their attitudes towards its?

What do they do with their spare time?

What’s the most important thing in their life?…

Who is the competition in the sector?

What are they saying? To whom?

How much do they spend?

Where do they advertise?

How are we different?

Competition

Market

How big is it?

Is it growing/flat?

What is our market share?

Is there any innovation?

What factors are shaping it’s future?

Technology

What is the role for digital?

What examples of innovation are there?

How are people using social media/mobile?

Role for website/search?

How do our audience use it?

Product/Company

What are the core attributes?

Are these differentiating?

Is it first/cheapest/most highly rated?

What is the company’s history/mission statement?

How is it performing financially?

Distillation

Solid performance Trust crucial for consumers Sleeping giant Digital under used

Weathering the storm Consumers feeling the squeeze

Retaining front of mind

Being relevant and personable

Market leader

Maintaining position

Market Commercial Consumer Brand Technology

Insig

htCh

alle

nge

Syno

psis

Solid performance Trust crucial for consumers Sleeping giant Digital under used

Weathering the storm Consumers feeling the squeeze

Retaining front of mind

Being relevant and personable

Market leader

Maintaining position

…staying there requires commitment

…consumers needreassurance

…brand need to do more for less

…in a space thatdemands attentionIts tough at the top

Market Commercial Consumer Brand Technology

Insig

htCh

alle

nge

Syno

psis

Developing a proposition

What is interesting in all this?

Brand Truth, Consumer Truth, Market truth, Digital truth?

Combine the most telling insights to create the story…

For this generation the future has never been

more uncertain

More people have personal pensions with Standard Life than any

other provider++

Consumer truth Brand truth

The future, designed by you

You can take control of your future online

Digital truth

++

Developing a proposition

Role

Proposition

Writing

Briefing

It is not…The media placement

It is…Exactly what it is we are promoting

It is not…An endless list of product attributes

It is…The core product benefit to the consumer

It is not…A broad brush stroke or one liner from the

client segmentation

It is…A tight description of the exact person we

are talking too – including attitudes, behaviours etc

It is not…An end line

It is…A creative platform for the work

It is not…A list of all your research

It is…The reason to believe the proposition

It is not…A generic statement about the product

It is…A consumer insight that supports the

proposition

It is not…The media schedule

It is…The expected creative deliverable

It is not…“N/A”

It is…Amplification thought starters

It is not…A list of random adjectives

It is…The brand’s personality

It is not…A detailed breakdown

It is…How much we have to produce the work

It is not…“See brand guidelines”

It is…The absolutes the Client cannot live

without

It is not…A repository for things you forgot

It is…Other campaign activity, similar previous

work

Role

Proposition

Writing

Briefing

Briefings

Have the product present

Go outside the office

Make it enjoyable

Don’t just sit there and read Client documents

Talk about things!

Remember – you won’t crack it in the briefing